A significant number of old masonry bridges are still in use and need to be
assessed considering current traffic loading and safety requirements.
Masonry bridges
are complex heterogeneous syst
ems, where masonry arches represent the main
components. Thus a
realistic
modelling
of arches
is vital for accurate assessment of
masonry bridges
. The authors have previously proposed
and validated
a detailed
mesoscale description for masonry arches allowi
ng for the actual masonry bond and the
specific arch geometry including the case of skew arches.
In this paper
,
th
e proposed
mesoscale
modelling strategy is used in a comprehensive
numerical
study
to investigate
the effects of various parameters
,
including
masonry bond and defects in the brickwork
,
abutment stiffness and movements at the supports
,
which are usually disregarded in
practical assessment of masonry arches and bridges
.
The results achieved show how
these parameters affect the ultimate load capac
ity, failure mechanisms and initial
stiffness of square and skew arches, where the used of detailed 3D mesoscale
modelling is critical in providing accurate response predictions
under
a variety of
loading conditions for which reduced models might provide i
ncorrect
results.